The present invention relates to toys in general, and more particularly to rockable toys.
There are already known many various constructions and configurations of rockable toys with many distinctive features differentiating such toys from one another. Such toys are intended, by conducting their rocking or oscillatory motion, to give an appearance of life, since life and motion are almost indistinguishable for the intended user of the toy, that is a child of tender years. For this reason, animated toys, such as the aforementioned rocking toys, have a greater appeal to such users than inanimate objects which are incapable of sustained motion once the child ceases to exert a force thereon. Of course, the appeal of the toy to the child is even more pronounced when the child is able to fully observe the motion, possibly from various angles, and when the toy is capable of performing several independent or quasi-independent motions.
Along these lines, there is already known, from the U.S. Pat. No. 2,577,343, a weighted figure toy in the shape of a seal balancing a ball on its nose. The figure is capable of performing a rocking motion in only two opposite directions, and the ball is capable of independently swinging, also in these directions, to give an appearance of a balancing act. However, the motion of all elements along a common plane lacks variety, and hence this toy soon loses its attraction in the eyes of the user.
Children of various ages also like to look into mirrors, to observe the reflections of their own faces or of objects surrounding them, or to use mirrors to throw reflected images on walls, ceilings or other surfaces or objects. Along the latter lines, there is known, from the U.S. Pat. No. 2,463,817, a toy reflector with a support therefor, wherein the support has the configuration of an airplane, and an image of a plane of opaque material is provided on a mirror so that, when light rays are reflected from the mirror, an image of the airplane appears on the surface reached by the reflected light rays. While this arrangement is capable of changing the position, angle and other attributes of the image on the surface reached by the reflected light rays, its utility is rather limited, and the various possibilities of change are quickly exhausted, so that the child quickly loses his or her interest in this toy. Moreover, this toy is so complicated and complex to handle that it can only be used by older children, which have little or no interest in the toys of this variety to begin with.
Moreover, the U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,729,865 and 3,861,078 disclose toy figures provided with mirrors at the locations of their faces, so that the child can give the toy his or her appearance by properly positioning his or her face relative to the mirror so that the reflection of such face will constitute the face of the toy. Even here, however, the novelty of the item wears off very quickly and the child's interest in the toy wanes.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,633 discloses a toy assembly including a toy figure and a semi-transparent mirror behind which various garments may be interchangeably placed to be visible in superimposition with the reflected image of the figure. Here again, like in the patents discussed in the previous paragraph, there is no animation, except for possible child-induced rotation of the figure, and the appeal of this toy is consequently very limited, especially to the older children for whom this toy assembly is intended.